Radio
Latest VOK broadcast on nuclear test
Feb 14th
A day after North Korea conducted its third nuclear test, the test was again in the news on Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international shortwave radio station, but it was far from the top story.
The lead item was a booklet published in Mongolia.
“Respected Kim Jong Un’s famous work, the great Kim Il Sung is the eternal leader of our party and our people was published in a booklet in Mongolia,” the announcer read out.
The nuclear test didn’t come until much later in the newscast, following items about an article about Kim Jong Un on a pro-North Korean website in the More >
Voice of Korea on nuclear test
Feb 13th
Here’s how North Korea’s international shortwave radio broadcaster, the Voice of Korea, announced news of the nuclear test in English.
Reception this morning was poor so the audio isn’t very clear. The music in the background isn’t an intended part of the broadcast, but appears to be the remenants of an old broadcast on the tape being used. If magnetic tape isn’t wiped well enough, such images of old recordings can remain in the background.
This was carried as part of the news bulletin.
http://www.northkoreatech.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/130212-vok-threats1.mp3And here’s a second mention of the nuclearized Korean peninsula. This is slightly longer and was broadcast at the More >
Ranking Eric Schmidt’s Pyongyang trip
Jan 12th
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is back from Pyongyang. His visit made headlines around the world, but what about inside North Korea?
I took a look at the main 8pm evening news on North Korean TV to see where the visit ranked. Details of Eric Schmidt’s movements were reported on both Wednesday and Thursday.
Domestic news dominated the news both days, as it usually does. There were many items about workers across the country reacting to and supporting Kim Jong Un’s New Year address. The “Google delegation” news accounted for 30 seconds of the 10-minute bulletin on Wednesday, and 35 seconds of a More >
North Korea launches radio program targeted at South
Dec 1st
North Korea launched a new radio broadcast targeted at South Korea on Saturday morning. The two-hour long “Echo of Unification” broadcast is expected to be broadcast three times a day and will go out over some transmitters that usually carry state radio programs.
Details of the broadcast were first made public on the Uriminzokkiri website, a China-based site with official ties to North Korea.
As can be seen from the graphic (below), the program broadcasts in the morning from 7am to 9am, in the afternoon from 1pm to 3pm, and in the evening from 9pm to 11pm.
The frequencies in use are shortwave More >
Voice of Korea winter 2012/13 schedule
Oct 31st
Many international radio stations, including the Voice of Korea, just made their semi-annual schedule change to accomodate seasonal broadcasting conditions.
The radio station broadcasts two programs a day, each around 57 minutes long. Program one is carried on broadcasts aimed at South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, South Africa and Central and South America. Program two is carried on broadcasts for Europe, North America and North East Asia.
Each of these programs includes the same core features: the news, editorials and the reminiscences of Kim Il Sung. Music and other features sometimes differ between the two broadcasts.
They broadly follow More >
Voice of Korea gets an e-mail address
Sep 19th
Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio service, has started telling its listeners it has an email address.
The radio station opened a web site more than a year ago but never advertised an email address and continued to ask listeners to send messages via postal mail.
Now it says it is accepting emails at vok@star-co.net.kp, according to Arnulf Piontek in Berlin, who supplied a copy of the letter (below).
It says, “The address will help further developing the friendly relations between our broadcast and listeners.”
I tried sending an email to the address but it bounced back with an error “Unknown address More >
South Korean Defense Ministry steps up DPRK broadcasts
Aug 15th
A radio station believed to be operated by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has strengthened its radio broadcasts to North Korea, according to reports from radio monitors in Japan.
MND Radio added extra shortwave frequencies from August 9 in an apparent attempt to get around the DPRK’s heavy jamming of its signal.
The current schedule for the station’s four programs a day now looks like this (all times in GMT)
MND Radio Schedule
0400-0440 on 5900, 6760kHz – Program 1 0500-0535 on 5150, 6435kHz – Program 2 0600-0650 on 5410, 6700kHz – Program 3 0700-0735 on 5290, 6270kHz – Program 4 1000-1035 on 5150, 6435kHz – Program 2 More >
North Korea apparently testing digital radio
Jun 8th
North Korea appears to be testing digital radio broadcasting.
Hiroshi Inoue, a radio monitor in Japan, received on Wednesday the country’s international radio service, Voice of Korea, broadcasting on shortwave using DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). DRM is a digital broadcasting technology developed for use on AM and shortwave services.
He posted a couple of clips of the on YouTube. While reception isn’t perfect, the audio identification of Voice of Korea can clearly be heard.
The broadcasts are taking place on 3,560MHz, a frequency used by the Voice of Korea in the past for conventional analog shortwave broadcasts.
In a blog posting Mr. Inoue says More >
Voice of Korea mid 2012 full schedule
May 25th
Previously I listed the English-language broadcasting schedule of Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international shortwave broadcasting station.
Here’s the full schedule of all services, listed by time and then by language. The schedule comes courtesy of Arnulf Piontek in Berlin, Germany.
The schedule shows the time in GMT (UTC), the language, the frequencies in kilohertz (kHz) and the target area of the broadcast. (SEAs, Southeast Asia; NECHN, Northeast China; CAm, Central and South America; NAm, North America, NEAs, Northeast Asia; J, Japan; Eu, Europe; FE, Far East; ME, Middle East; NAf, Northern Africa; and SAf, Southern Africa) Korean-language programs consist of either More >
North Koreans gaining more access to foreign media, says report
May 13th
Cracks in the information wall that has long surrounded North Korea are increasingly allowing citizens in the country more exposure to foreign media, according to a report published on Thursday.
The report, produced by Intermedia for the U.S. Department of State, was based on surveys of several hundred defectors, refugees and travelers, and found “substantial numbers” are able to access outside media.
It’s based on a relatively small sample of a few hundred people made up of those who have already made it outside the country, either by defecting or crossing the Chinese border for trade. Therefore, the results can’t simply be More >
